Come March 1st Verizon is said to be releasing a new prepaid wireless plan for $60. The new plan will include unlimited talk and text, and 2.5 GB of 4G LTE data that becomes 3 GB if you enable autopay in your account. The plan will also include unlimited texting to Canada, Mexico and Puerto Rico. For an additional $10 you'll be able to purchase an add on pack for 1000 international minutes of calling to Mexico and Canada.
As a regular reader of BestMVNO, you know that one of the purposes of this website is to try and help you get the most for your dollar. With that purpose in mind, any time a company tweaks or offers a new plan, I like to show you how it compares to other plans by other providers on the market and/or how it even compares to other plans offered by that same company. Having said that, if Verizon does in fact release this new plan as is, my advice for you is to stay away from it and save a few extra dollars in your wallet by subscribing to one of their other plans. Here is why:
Verizon's Prepaid Wireless Plans Summary
Verizon's monthly prepaid wireless plans (formerly called Allset) begin at $35 a month. A customer on this $35 plan is entitled to
- 500 minutes of talk
- unlimited text
- 500 MB of 4G LTE data
Verizon also offers a $45 plan that includes
- Unlimited talk and text
- 1 GB of 4G LTE data or 1.5 GB with autopay enabled
If you find the data that's included with your plan isn't enough, data add on packs are offered that rollover for up to 90 days depending on which pack you purchase. A summary of the data add on packs is as follows:
Data Add On Packs
- $5, 500 MB of data 30 days expiration
- $10, 1 GB of data, 90 days carryover
- $20, 3 GB of data, 90 days carryover
What's particularly interesting here, is the data carryover options at the $10 and $20 price points and that Verizon allows you to purchase and have up to 2 data add on packs on your account per month. Some of you are probably quickly adding in your head that the $5 and $10 data add on packs added together get you an additional 1.5 GB of data per month for $15 which equals the cost of Verizon's new plan. This is not what we're after. The rest of you are probably already ahead of me. What we're after is how we can save a few extra dollars by sticking with the $45 plan while still getting the same features for less than the $60 plan or even using the $35 plan and supplementing our voice minutes through services like Google Voice and FreedomPop to get the same features as the $60 plan. Here's how with the cost breakdowns and it's quite simple.
How to Get 3 GB of Data Unlimited Talk and Text Per Month Via Verizon Without Subscribing to Their $60 Prepaid Plan
- Purchase the $45 prepaid wireless plan and enable autopay to get 1.5 GB of LTE data
- Purchase the $20 3 GB data add on pack with 90 days carryover
By doing these two things, this is what will happen. During the first month of service, once you burn through your initial 1.5 GB of LTE data, your data add on pack will begin to be used. After the month is over, and you're onto your second month, you'll go back to using the data that comes with the monthly $45 plan until that data is used up. Once that data is up, you'll begin to use the rest of the data held in your add on pack. With a little math you can see that after two months you'll have received 3 GB of data via the monthly plan, and 3 GB of data with the add on pack. This is the exact same amount of data you'd get on the new $60 plan EXCEPT, by going through the route I just described, you'd pay $45 for month one, plus $45 for month 2, plus $20 for the data add on pack which totals $110 or $55/month! So, skip Verizon's new $60 plan and save yourself $5/month, unless they add more data to it, and just follow the guide I just described. For those of you who don't care about how many minutes you get, it's pretty simple, go with the $35 plan and add as much data as you want, and if you find you need more minutes, use one of the free services I've previously described to make free phone calls over wi-fi and you'll get unlimited talk just like you do for the $60 plan but for a lot less.